This vivid color print shows the burning of the Church of Our Lady, the cathedral of Copenhagen, on the night of September 4–5, 1807, during the Anglo-Danish war of 1807–14. Britain initiated the war in August 1807, after the Danes refused to surrender their fleet, which the British feared would fall into the hands of Napoleonic France. The British landed troops on Danish soil and on September 2 began a three-day bombardment of the city. On the third night of the attack, the steeple of the cathedral was ...

In September 1807, early in the Anglo-Danish War of 1807–14, the British fleet bombarded the city of Copenhagen. Among the buildings struck was the Church of the Holy Trinity, which housed in its attic the University Library of Copenhagen. Some grenades fell through the roof, and this book belonging to the library was among those that were hit. Shown here are the bombed book and the grenade. The book is the first printed edition of, ironically, Defensor pacis (The defender of peace), a major work of medieval political philosophy ...

This watercolor by the Swedish artist and draftsman Carl Gustaf Gillberg (1774–1855) depicts the fighting at Ratan on August 20, 1809 between the armies of Sweden and Russia. Contemporaneously with the Napoleonic wars, at the beginning of the 19th century Sweden and Russia fought what became known as the Finnish War, which had the effect of radically altering the political topography of the Baltic. Sweden’s defeat put an end to its domination in the region. Finland, previously a province of Sweden, became a grand duchy under the rule ...

Selma Lagerlöf (1858−1940) was one of Sweden’s most important writers. In 1909 she became the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, and in 1914 the first woman elected to the Swedish Academy. Her writings were placed in a local setting, but she used them and her national and international prominence to champion much larger issues, including women's suffrage in Sweden and international peace initiatives. In 1890 Lagerlöf entered a novel competition, sponsored by the magazine Idun, by submitting five chapters of Gösta Berlings ...

This original watercolor drawing by John Augustus Atkinson (1775-1833?) shows Napoleon seated in a tent shelter, surrounded by soldiers and members of his staff. Atkinson was an English painter and printmaker who specialized in military themes. He produced sets of engravings showing British military uniforms, and was also known for his watercolors of historical events. In 1815, Atkinson was commissioned to collaborate with the British artist Arthur William Devis (1762-1822) on a painting of the Battle of Waterloo. In 1819, John Burnet, the first engraver to specialize in the reproduction ...

This original ink-and-watercolor caricature shows a petite, prancing Napoleon dueling with a heavy, domineering Gerhard Leberecht von Blücher, while a British sailor judges the match. The participants in the duel are backed by supporters: Napoleon’s faction includes French generals, while von Blücher’s includes German peasants and a Russian cossack. The caricature parodies political conditions at the time. Following Napoleon’s retreat from Russia, the Germanic states, led by Prussia, reentered the wars against Napoleon. At the time the caricature was made, Prussian incursions were the primary threat to ...

This is the first of a pair of unsigned watercolors by the German artist Georg Emanuel Opitz (1775-1841). It shows a procession of cossack soldiers marching through Paris during the occupation of the city in 1814. Opitz, who focused on portraiture and caricature, traveled to Paris in 1813 and witnessed the arrival of Russian and Prussian forces in the city following the Battle of Paris. Until this battle, no foreign army had entered Paris in 400 years. The French defeat led to the abdication of the Emperor Napoleon. The watercolor ...

This hand-colored etched caricature is by British caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson (1756?-1827). Rowlandson was trained as an artist in both England and France, but seems to have seen his profession as a way to make money rather than as an art form. As a result, he produced works that would sell – including pornographic images and illustrations of poems, as well as cartoons. Rowlandson produced his works by first drawing an image, then washing it with color, etching it on copper, having it engraved by a professional engraver, and then hand ...

This unfinished ink sketch by Benjamin West (1738-1820) shows British artillerymen from the Napoleonic Wars straining at a rope to drag a canon. The tenth child of a Pennsylvania innkeeper, West became one of the foremost artists of his day, despite having had very little formal education. In 1763, he moved to London, where he became a co-founder of the Royal Academy of Arts. He was a close friend of Benjamin Franklin, and was commissioned by King George III to paint portraits of the royal family. West later became the ...

This photochrome print of the tombs at Waterloo is part of “Views of Architecture and Other Sites in Belgium” from the catalog of the Detroit Publishing Company (1905). Located approximately 12 kilometers south-southeast of Brussels, Waterloo is the site of the great battle of June 1815 between the French army of Napoleon I and the armies led by the Duke of Wellington of England and General Blücher of Prussia. On February 26, 1815, Napoleon secretly left the Mediterranean island of Elba, where he had been exiled by the victorious allies ...

During the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, many Germans fought on the side of the French Empire. After Napoleon defeated Austria and Russia in the December 1805 Battle of Austerlitz, he grouped 16 German states that were part of the Holy Roman Empire into a French-controlled Confederation of the Rhine. He then dissolved the Holy Roman Empire. The states that were members of the confederation were compelled to supply military units and soldiers to Napoleon’s armies. This map and the accompanying table show the military engagements in ...

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire.